Students attending Marian University in Wisconsin reap the benefits of a small, private school. Building relationships with professors and fellow students is easier in such an environment, as is accessing learning opportunities outside the classroom. These facets of campus living enhance the college experience.
Classroom instruction is the foundation for a college education. However, at Marian University, students enjoy many advantages from the school’s spirit of partnership. Professors enthusiastically collaborate with students and across disciplines. Faculty also commit to offering unique learning experiences and inclusive classrooms.
This dedication to student experience highlights Marian University’s mission to expand education beyond the confines of the classroom, providing distinct, meaningful student experiences that impact both the heart and the mind.
Creating a Supportive, Inclusive Learning Experience
Marian University in Wisconsin professors elevate the student experience through expertise, experience, support, and caring. No one exemplifies this more than Dr. Sarah Garvey, an Associate Professor and Department Chair of Math and Natural Science at Marian.
The university recently bestowed Garvey the James Underkofler Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. The award recognizes professors who “demonstrate outstanding performance and excellence in undergraduate teaching” and “reflect the college’s mission, purpose, and commitment.”
Garvey, who teaches in the Bachelor of Science in Chemistry program, represents Marian University’s commitment and deep concern for student learning. Nomination letters written on Garvey’s behalf consistently noted how she creates a welcoming and inclusive classroom. They also praised Garvey for her deep level of caring for her students, commitment to their success, and the way she practices a respectful teaching style.
Honors Scholars Program at Marian University in Wisconsin
Another example of exceptional student experiences at Marian is the school’s Honors Scholars program. Directed by Dr. Mike Garvey, an Associate Professor of Chemistry and Physics (and husband of Sarah Garvey), the Honors Scholars program seeks to create lasting bonds between students across multiple academic disciplines through shared experiences.
The Honors Scholars Program allows students who qualify to take interdisciplinary and special topics courses as substitutions for some required courses. Course topics span a wide range of diverse interests. Examples include:
- Being Human: Perspectives from Biology and Literature
- Violence, Trauma, and Resilience
- Transcultural Nursing
- Intro to Drama
- Buddhism and the Mind
- Philosophy of Food
- Are We Happy Yet? The History and Philosophy of Utopia and Dystopias
- World Religions
- To Be a Woman in Latin America
- Advanced Creative Writing Seminar
- World Civilizations II/Intro to Sociology
Marian University students benefit from this commitment to cross-disciplinary collaboration between professors. It recently paved the way for a life-changing trip to Poland.
Professor Collaboration Leads to Trip to Poland
The History and Memory of the Holocaust interdisciplinary course created by Dr. David Leichter, an Associate Professor of Philosophy, and Dr. Matthew Szromba, an Associate Professor of History, recently led to a student trip to Poland.
Students in the course, which is part of the Honors Scholars Program, studied the Holocaust from a historical and philosophical standpoint. As a result, students learned about the events that led to the Holocaust, how dehumanization contributed to the catastrophe, and the way, in later years, that memory of the Holocaust became distorted or simply forgotten.
A two-week trip to Poland capped the class. Eighteen students spent almost every day of the journey learning about the Holocaust through guided walking tours, museum visits, and trips to historical sites. Trips included visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi death camp near Kraków, a German-occupied Polish city during World War II.
The trip provides an example of the once-in-a-lifetime student experiences available for Marian students. “Studying abroad is a transformative experience for students,” Dr. Szromba said. “Students tend to return from study abroad as more broad-minded persons, as better problem solvers, as more skilled learners, and as more mature individuals. Studying abroad can be a very humbling, yet rewarding, experience for students.”
At Marian University in Wisconsin, such experiences are a central part of what the school offers its students. These programs support the university’s mission to help students become successful adults and lifelong learners who focus on service to their communities.
Image credit: Rosalyn Lezotte, all rights reserved
